vox populi small thumbnail 'We refuse to live on spins, lies and make-believe, and we should accept the warts and all in the annals of our history.'

Johor gov't book vindicates Mat Sabu

Faz: The lies of more than 50 years in our history books must be corrected. If it diminished the role of Umno, so be it. The local historians must make efforts across all divides to tell the correct version of our history and the struggle for independence.

This is the least to ask to be fair to those numerous freedom fighters of the nation from Malaya to Malaysia and onwards. It should be our referral card to progress to the future.

We refuse to live on spins, lies and make-believe, and we should accept the warts and all in the annals of our history.

Brahman: As the saying goes, "to the victor its spoils", and this includes a place in history as the hero. Imagine if Chiang Kai Shek stopped the Chinese revolution, Mao Zedong would be classified as a traitor, and if Gandhi lost in his fight for India's independence, he would be called a terrorist.

The police personnel who lost their lives at Bukit Kepong were carrying out their duty as a member of the police force, irrespective who the government of the day was. Theirs was a commendable sacrifice. Unfortunately, they just the many pawns in history.

Mat Indera and the communist lost in their fight so they had to take a place in the darker side of history.

DNA: It is a well-known fact that Umno will twist and turn historical facts to suit their whims and fancies. In this particular case, it is not surprising that Umno has done that.

Anonymous_5fb: What's wrong if Mat Indera was a communist? I think it's clearer now that both the communists and nationalists fought for independence of Malaya from the colonialists, it's just that communists fought with weapons while the nationalists 'befriended' the British.

Logically, due to this, the British favoured the nationalists lead by Umno, and they conveniently (or should I say 'cunningly') painted the communists as the enemy of our nation.

An independent panel consists of academicians and historians (please leave politicians out of it) is indeed needed to set the records straight.

Black Mamba: Eat your heart out, KJ (Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin). There is nothing for Mat Sabu to debate. All he has to do is to pull out this book, ‘Pengukir Nama Johor', foreword written by none other than Johor Menteri Besar Abdul Ghani Othman, as evidence.

Sabu knew you are still wet between the ears and that was the reason he sent in his junior, PAS Youth, to take you on.

Gerard Samuel Vijayan: Since I was born post-1957, the government should now clarify who is the hero and who is the traitor here.

For example in India, people do not consider the soldiers who rebelled against the British East India Company during the Seapoy mutiny as traitors, and neither do they consider the Indian soldiers who took part in the infamous Jallianwala Bagh massacre on the orders of the British as heroes.

While the Communist Party of Malaya should not have continued with the armed struggle after 1957 against independent Malaya, whatever acts of violence against the British that took place prior to 1957 was part and parcel of the struggle for independence just like in India and Indonesia.

So who are we to judge who was right and wrong? Colluding with, working and serving the interests of the colonial power can also be considered to be treacherous and traitorous, depending on which point of view we take.

History should not be re-written, but we should understand and learn from it.

Simon Lee 3ed5: Last week, Umno's New Sunday Times was demonising Mat Sabu, screaming with a full front-page headlines: 'Mat Sabu a ‘traitor'' .

I guess next Sunday, the paper's headlines would be screaming: ‘Mat Indera a freedom fighter'.

The real traitors are those corrupt politicians in power plundering the nation's wealth, enslaving the minds of the poor Malays and robbing the poor rakyat dry.

Dood: I'm waiting for Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein to suggest that people should take legal action against the Johor government.

Student denies praising PM's speech in Australia

Anonymous: Even if the students sing praises of what was said by PM Najib Razak, it must not be taken as unbiased views. How can they, being government-sponsored scholars, bite the hand that feeds them?

There is no need for the students to refute what Bernama has reported . We perfectly understand the poor students who went and enjoyed the meal at the taxpayers' expenses.

Fillio: With over 22 years of Mahathirism, truth has long been dumped into the dustbin. All government agencies have been cultured to spin for the truth in Mahathirism only. It's this unbundling of truth that has basically caused for all the ailments, which Malaysia is facing today.

While elsewhere, whether in Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam or Philippines truth is propagated as dear as life itself. For truth is not only mere lip service but it must be dearly propagated, cultured and honestly earned.

Pity Him: Praise to this student, who has put things into perspective.

 

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